G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #324 Comic Book Review

Short on words but filled with atmosphere and action, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #324 is a quick read but one worth admiring more than once, especially if you coveted the Defiant playset as a kid.

Written by series veteran Larry Hama, this issue (thankfully) breaks free of the weird mutant and android battle for Springfield thing and gets right to the point; there's an enemy space station doing something bad, and G.I. Joe is going to launch their cool vehicles to stop it.

While we all love the popular characters like Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes, it's great to see some of the lesser-known Joes like Hardtop, Payload, Countdown, and Sci-Fi get some screen time. I can't even think of the last time I saw Hardtop get to do anything. There's also a quick shot of Law and Order in there, too, for fans.

Hama and the creative team of Paul Pelletier, Tony Kordos, and Francesco Segala take their time sending our team of heroes into space. They relish drawing out the launch sequence over several pages with well-detailed and cinematic shots of the awesome Defiant and the 1010X shuttle (whatever it's called). Like watching 2001 or Star Trek the Motion Picture, we, the reader, get to enjoy every bit of the scenery, the interior of the cockpit, and the detailed space suits at a leisurely pace. One can almost hear Strauss playing along to the storyboards.

Once the battle begins, the issue picks up speed and blasts through a fun action scene involving Lady Jaye and Sci-Fi space-walking into the enemy lair to fight robot ninjas. Things blow up, robot arms are lost, and one of the Joes almost drifts off into space. As one might expect, the Joes win the battle, but do they win the war against Revanche?

The art is good and fits the style of G.I. Joe nicely. The vehicles and characters look great, and the coloring is superb. Issue #324 is a good-looking book worth admiring numerous times, primarily because of the eclectic cast of characters and vehicles.

We only get to see the Sky Raven briefly (and from a distance), but the team spends a lot of time celebrating the Defiant. Like the U.S.S. Flagg, the Defiant was one of the ultra-expensive G.I. Joe playset-vehicles back in the day that only the luckiest of children could talk their parents into buying for them. Now, if you want one, it'll set you back over $1000. Thankfully, this comic book retails for only $3.99.

Sci-Fi was one of my favorite action figures as a kid. For what tactical reason did he have a neon-green-day-glow spacesuit? It didn't matter because he looked cool. He looks cool in this issue, too.

I find the whole "Revanche" thing to be a little confusing, but by the end of this issue, it could be that they have something really sinister up their robot sleeve. I guess we'll have to wait and find out. Alpha-001 certainly seems to be more of a threat than Cobra Commander ever was.